In a world obsessed with speed, slowing down feels like falling behind. For a long time, I thought that constantly being productive and hustling was going to make me succesful. After a mentally struggling time, I realised that it is not speed and constant hustling that I wanted. I needed deep rest. To really think about the things that are important in my life, and the goals that I aim for. When you slow down and reflect on the different aspects of your life and reshape them, you are setting yourself up for succes. The reason we became overly productive, is because we are in a constant competition with other people. When you let go of that competition and start focusing solely on your own life, you set yourself free. True progress often happens when we create space for reflection, rest and intention.
The problem with Hustle Culture
For some reason, we often think that we should always be busy with something. If we are relaxing or taking the time to do nothing, it is frowned upon. We also have hundreds of ways to keep ourselves busy, especially in our modern world. It is also true that our school and worksystem is designed to keep us busy every day, with little impact. There is little room for slowing down and reflecting on ourselves and our actions. The cost is that many people experience a burnout, poor decision making and disconnection.
The Science Behind Slowing Down
A while ago, I suffered from a mental illness called psychosis. While it is terrible to have this kind of mental illness, it also brought a sense of peace to my life. For weeks I was not able to leave my house, but I also had a lot of time to focus on myself and my family. I experienced immense rest and it gave me a lot of wisdom and perspective. It made me question the way I was doing things, like going to school and work hard, and completely filling my weekly agenda. At that time, I was walking a lot in nature and I removed distractions like television and radio. I noticed that I really needed the time to figure things out in my life. Before that, I always put my attention on the grind, working hard and caring too much about other people’s opinions. Now I know that being a creator and building my life’s work is the way to go for me. So if you feel like your lost or want to make a change in your life, start with slowing down. Use your free time to reflect on yourself, figure out what you want to pursue in life.
I experienced immense rest and it gave me a lot of wisdom and perspective. It made me question the way I was doing things, like going to school and work hard, and completely filling my weekly agenda.
Practical Ways to Slow Down
I think we could all benefit from slowing down. Because we live in a world with technology that evolves faster and faster. We all know about climate change and biodiversity loss, and how it affects our world. I think this is mainly because we don’t give ourselves enough time to slow down. So how can we incorporate more time to slow down? Well, there are many ways to do that, and I will list a few below;
- Schedule “thinking time” – create strategic pauses in your week, where you do nothing besides reflecting on yourself.
- Single tasking over multitasking – with everything that you do, do it one task at a time. Be completely present with the task at hand.
- Daily mindfullness – try to practice meditation 5 to 10 minutes every day.
- Digital boundaries – reduce notifications and screen time.
- Saying “no” strategically – protect your time and energy.
Whenever you need to slow down, you can use some of these tools to become more present and gain more clarity.
Why Slowing Down Leads to Speed
Slowing down leads to speed because we have more clarity when we slow down, and we become better at decision making. If you are constantly chasing the carrot, slowing down will tell you that there are more carrots if you change direction. Whether or not you change your direction is up to you, but it will provide you with more options. More rest also equals more energy and creativity, you will not get good results if you are constantly draining your energy. It also gives you more focus. If you take breaks from your tasks occasionally, you will get deeper results over time. The same applies for sports, music or craftmanship. You need rest to be at the top of your game. You need creativity and a fresh perspective.
Redefining Success on Your Terms
I invite you to try slowing down for a week to notice the difference. Take some time everyday to enjoy nature, meditate in silence or allow yourself to reflect. See what it does to your creativity, focus and your energy. It has given me the time to redefine my life and my purpose, and it can do the same for you. It is a time of feeling connected with the world, and a time of hapiness. Sometimes all we need is to slow down to see the bigger picture, to see how you want to contribute to society. So where can you create more space in your life this week?
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Have a peaceful day,
Mart Bergsma
